{"id":32299,"date":"2026-09-07T14:15:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/?p=32299"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:19:27","slug":"hope-club-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/en\/hope-club-2-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hourglass Enterprise: How AI Is Reshaping Mid-Level Roles and Why the Next Generation Becomes Our Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sigve Brekke, GCEO of True Corporation<\/em><\/p>\n

There is growing anxiety that artificial intelligence is dismantling the corporate ladder: eliminating entry-level jobs and leaving the \u201cNext Gen\u201d stranded. For decades, organizations were structured like pyramids, with a wide base of graduates performing routine, structured work. Now, critics fear automation will compress that base and turn the pyramid into a diamond, locking young people out. I see the change differently.<\/p>\n

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The Hourglass Organization<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The part of the organization under most pressure is the middle, not the bottom. For decades, a manager’s job was to sit between the people doing the work and the people setting the direction, and to carry information between them. AI now does much of that carrying. So the middle of the organization will get narrower, and the people in it will move, upward into leadership or sideways into specialist roles built on expertise rather than headcount.<\/p>\n

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What we end up with is an hourglass. At the top, senior leaders with judgment and strategic sense. At the bottom, a broad base of young professionals who were born with AI in their hands. We need that base. They are not there to do routine work the machine can do. They are there because when AI produces the first draft of everything, the scarce skill becomes knowing what to ask for and recognizing when the answer is wrong. Young professionals who have used these tools since school do that by instinct. They are also the only people in the building who see the company the way its next customers do.<\/p>\n

I heard this base speak for itself recently at Hope Club, an open forum on the issues facing young people, held for the second time and joined on this occasion by Professor Yodchanan Wongsawat, Thailand’s minister of higher education, science, research and innovation. I spent the session listening to entry-level colleagues, and much of what follows is theirs.<\/p>\n

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The narrowing middle changes what a career looks like. The ladder splits into two tracks: a competitive management track and an expanding specialist track, for people who thrive on deep skill rather than on managing others. One entry-level colleague at Hope Club put it well. AI, he said, is not a replacement for human talent but a “fast car.” If you are an expert, a slow car limits your reach. With a fast car, you go further and faster, and you reach places that once seemed impossible. My advice to the Next Gen is to master this fast car early. Do not use AI to do less. Use it to experience more.<\/p>\n

Learning to Steer<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A fast car rewards a good driver, and driving well begins with knowing where you are going. In school, the problem is handed to you. At work, as one entry-level participant pointed out, the real job is “problem framing,” defining what the actual problem is amid messy, unstructured realities. Another added a warning I agreed with: being “academic smart” does not make you “professionally smart.” At the base of the hourglass, hunger and adaptability count for more than grades.<\/p>\n

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Driving well also takes human judgment, because the car has none. AI can beat grandmasters at chess, yet it still fails at basic contextual tasks, such as reading an analog clock, because it lacks common sense. AI also tends to agree with the person asking, returning the answer they appear to want rather than the one they need. Critical thinking remains the user’s responsibility.<\/p>\n

This is why the so-called soft skills are the hardest currency in an hourglass. One young colleague described how “the art of diplomacy,” finding a middle ground, reading the room and understanding people inside and out, became her greatest asset. AI cannot build a relationship. As another put it, a degree gives you a head start on hard skills, but communication, presentation and leadership decide how far you travel.<\/p>\n

What Universities Owe the Hourglass<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If the middle narrows and careers split into tracks, education can no longer be a single stage completed before work begins. I was encouraged to hear the minister argue at Hope Club that learning must not be confined to a single stage of life. Universities must shift from one-way lecturing to hands-on platforms, becoming incubators that give any student, whatever their background, practical skills, a network and the confidence to build something.<\/p>\n

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The minister’s own career makes the point. He moved from professor to politician at 46, accepting daily risk because his experience was broad enough to carry him. That is the mindset the hourglass demands. Do not specialize too quickly. Learn a little about a lot of things, build a wide network, and stay open to changing direction when the market does. Expect to study, work, return to study and work again.<\/p>\n

A career of changing direction cannot run on “work-life balance” measured in hours. It runs on energy. One colleague at Hope Club put it simply: energy is a battery, and what matters is not only how you recharge it but what you spend it on. Being tired from work you love is healthy. Being drained by work you hate is not.<\/p>\n

So I recommend a daily Mirror Test. Look in the mirror in the morning and again at night and ask two questions: Am I proud of what I do? Am I having fun? If the answer is no, respect yourself enough to make a change. You have choices, and you should expect a healthy, two-way relationship with your employer.<\/p>\n

The Gift of Anxiety<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My final piece of advice is to never run from uncertainty. The unease of entering a role where you do not yet know the systems or how you will contribute is not a warning sign. It is the best gift you can receive, because being outside your comfort zone is where creativity begins. When you grow too comfortable, your edge dulls. Learn a tool you do not know. Take a project you are not ready for. Most experiences are not bad; they are simply lessons you have not finished yet.<\/p>\n

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I have great hope in the Next Gen. History is driven forward by the young, who refuse to let technological change paralyze them. Embrace the fast car. Manage your battery. Never stop learning. The hourglass stands on its base, and the base is you. Bring your fluency with these tools and your judgment about people, and you will not just navigate the AI era. You will define it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sigve Brekke, GCEO of True Corporation There is growing anxiety that artificial intelligence is dismantling the corporate ladder: eliminating entry-level jobs and leaving the \u201cNext Gen\u201d stranded. For decades, organizations were structured like pyramids, with a wide base of graduates performing routine, structured work. Now, critics fear automation will compress that base and turn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[312,147,292,161,284],"tags":[3894],"class_list":["post-32299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bettertogether-en","category-blog-en","category-culture-en","category-releases-en","category-viewpoint-en","tag-hopeclub-en"],"acf":[],"author_data":{"id":2,"name":"True Blog Team","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/09ce4bad220763db03bedaef2d0f675dea27f54b224f90103bc7d9e8cf43f1c9?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32302,"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32299\/revisions\/32302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.true.th\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}